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The link between babies’ birth date and their intelligence

Written By Sophie Hines | 9 June 2016

Scientists discover there is a correlation

We know that being born prematurely can affect a baby’s health, but until now there has been little research into the consequences of being born after your due date.

However, scientists have recently discovered that babies born late are actually cleverer, on average. Those born at 41 weeks gestation, rather than 39 or 40, show better measures of cognitive function when they reach school age.

Lead scientist Dr David Figlio said: ‘These findings suggest there may be a trade off between physical and cognitive outcomes, associated with late-term gestation.

‘While late-term gestation was associated with an increase in the rate of abnormal conditions at birth and with worse physical outcomes during childhood, it was also associated with better performance on all three measures of school-based cognitive functioning measures during childhood.’